Monday 6 April 2009

Longfield - Moths

With the nights remaining above freezing and despite the cold mornings the number of moth species on the wing is increasing. Over the weekend I managed to run the mv trap for a night and caught 6 moths of 5 species.
Early Grey

One of the odd plume moth species with the great Latin name of Platyptilia gonodactyla, certainly you'd be forgiven for thinking it was some sort of duck-billed pterodactyl. The wings of this group of moths are split into fingers, or plumes and are held out in this characteristic T shape.

Funkiest moth of the night award goes to the two male muslin moths, bad hair day or what!

Great antennae though.


3 comments:

Warren Baker said...

cool looking moth John!!

Greenie said...

John ,
Great close up shots - as usual .

Donald Hobern said...

I think the plume on this page is actually Amblyptilia acanthadactyla. The lobes on Platyptilia gonodactyla's forewings are broader and more rounded.